Now that the layout has been determined, and there is no way for both sides to change the sequence of engagement, the problem that the Russians can see, Cheng Biguang and Liu Guanxiong can also see, then the problem now is that the Russians need to concentrate their firepower on the Taipei armored cruiser in order to wipe out the opponent's numerical superiority, while the Chinese Navy must concentrate its firepower to sink the Rurik first, and then use the Scharnhorst against the Dutch fast battleship Amsterdam!

However, before the Russians completed the turn, they also needed to undergo the baptism of fire of the Chinese Navy, at this time the wind at sea reached about level 5, and because it was in the downwind direction, the smoke from the smoke canister did not completely cover the slender hull of the Russian fast battleship, and the distance of about 7KM was completely within the effective attack distance of the Chinese Navy. However, the two seventh-level fast battleships in the back did not escape the salvo of the Huaxia Navy.

With a long line of signal flags raised, the Pinghai and Jinghai concentrated their fire on the fast battleships of the Seven Provinces, which were turning and decreasing, while the Pinghai in the back attacked the Amsterdam behind them together with the Taipei. Eighteen 12-inch guns and four 11-inch guns spewed out long tongues of fire and fired heavy shells at the two Dutch capital ships maneuvering on the sea. Because of the close distance, the shooting was completed within 3 minutes, and the Pinghai was the first to hit the target, and then in the fourth round of shooting, the capital ship that had been "heavily damaged" made a hit!

A 12-inch bomb cut diagonally into the front of the Amsterdam's hull, although the angle of incidence was not good. However, the hardened armor of less than 6 inches was torn open by this cap-piercing bullet. After piercing the armor, the shell passed through the upper deck and exploded on the lower deck. Although there was no important part of the bow of the ship, it was just an anchor room and a place where some soldiers lived, but the canvas hammocks and other flammable materials in the officers' and men's bedrooms were still ignited by high explosives, and the fragments of the shells after the explosion were scattered throughout the living quarters, and the flames ignited all the flammable materials that they touched, and the flames quickly spread inside the hull, and puffs of smoke began to pour out from the broken hull.

Then another 11-inch shell hit the Amsterdam again. This time the shell smashed the transport boat between the two chimneys of the Amsterdam to pieces and passed directly through the upper deck, where it was blocked by the ship's main horizontal armor. Dense shrapnel and flames swept through several adjacent chambers, tearing the fragile neighbours to shreds, and opening several openings in several flues, and billowing smoke instantly filled the chambers near the point of the shot.

Just when the Amsterdam was fighting. The Seven Provinces under the attack of the Pinghai and Jinghai were even worse. During the time of the steering adjustment, the Seven Provinces had already hit 3 12-inch main gun shells! One of them hit the turret of a twin 6-inch gun of the Seven Provinces. Only 6-inch turret frontal armor can not block the attack of 12-inch cap-piercing shells at a distance of 7000 meters, and directly shredded the armor plate on the front of the turret after cutting off the barrel of a 6-inch gun, and the entire turret was blown apart, this is not the end, several fragments of large weight produced after the shell was shattered and even the armor plate on the back of the turret was torn apart, and several holes were also punched in the compartment behind the turret, and several Russian soldiers could not dodge and were beaten into a puddle of flesh by shrapnel weighing dozens of kilograms!

And two other shells, one of which hit the vicinity of the conning tower. The huge shock shook the Dutch officers inside. It took a long time to react, and another shell hit the wheelhouse of the Seven Provinces. Scattered debris smashed the entire stern main deck, burning flames spread along the corridor, and from a distance, a thick column of smoke rose from the stern of the Seven Provinces. During this time, the two seventh-level fast battleships were unable to effectively attack the Huaxia Navy because of their violent turning maneuvers, so although the 8 guns kept spewing flames, none of them hit. It's just that there is a splash of water tens of meters high around the warships of the Huaxia Navy.

Just when the 4 battleships of the Huaxia Navy were concentrating on the 2 seven-level battleships, the Huaxia armored cruiser formation led by the Scharnhorst also planned to smash the Russian armored cruiser formation, and Liu Guanxiong even wanted to sink the Rurik in the shortest possible time in order to help the friendly forces as soon as possible, but the sudden insertion of the Russian mine ship formation disrupted Liu Guanxiong's plan. Suddenly more than a dozen mine-striking ships burst out of the Russian armored cruiser array, forcing the Chinese Navy to target these small ships of only a few hundred tons. The effective range of torpedoes now is about 2 km. In other words, these little guys with sharp blades can bring the Huaxia Patrol Formation into the effective firing range in about 8 minutes!

"Hurry up and order the light cruiser to go up and intercept it." Looking at the Russian mine-striking ship rushing out of the dense fog, Rear Admiral Spee, who was on the verge of battle for the first time, said with some worry. According to the conventional naval warfare condition, if the opponent's lightning strike group attacks your main fleet, the first thing to do is to send light cruisers in front of the main fleet to destroy the incoming enemy with rapid-fire artillery. But from the current point of view, it seems that the Chinese Navy does not intend to do this. Liu Guanxiong smiled and asked the flag bearer to play a string of flag words. Then four light cruisers sailed out of the stern of the main fleet, and then plunged diagonally into the battlefield, forming a V-shape with Liu Guanxiong's five armored cruisers. Wrap up the Russian lightning strike ships involved in lightning strikes!

With a certain amount of firepower, the effect of multi-angle shooting is always better than that of a single angle. That's why crossfire is emphasized in land warfare. The reason is simple. If the opposite side is a skirmisher, if the frontal fire needs to hit a certain number of enemies in a range of 200 meters wide, then the side-fire fire may only use a range of 20 meters to hit the same number of enemies. The same principle applies to naval warfare. It is possible that the frontal armored cruiser will attack only the frontal projection of the opposing battleship, while the light cruiser formation inserted from the flanks will attack the side hull of the opponent! Moreover, it avoids the accidental damage and aiming difficulties caused by the entanglement of the auxiliary warships of both sides!

This is a real net of fire, the warp and weft lines composed of artillery fire are like a huge net covering all the opposing mine-striking ships, and the torpedo boats of several hundred tons are like moths throwing fire, desperately rushing forward, hoping to bring the other side into their torpedo range. A distance of a few kilometers was only a few minutes for a torpedo boat with a speed of up to 28 knots, but in the face of the fire of more than 60 6-inch guns and no less than this number of 12-pounder guns, this distance suddenly became unattainable! Real bullet like rain of notes. Five armored cruisers and five light cruisers of the Huaxia Navy completely piled up torpedo boats one after another with a dumping of more than 5 tons of ammunition per minute.

"At the same moment I even saw three huge flames rising from the sea, followed by three loud bangs, and in less than 30 seconds, three Russian torpedo boats were torn to pieces by a furious rain of bullets. In the face of high-explosive and shrapnel strikes, the Russian torpedo boats were almost defenseless. Except for a few torpedo boats that were lucky enough to get within range of the torpedoes, and then hastily fired a few torpedoes, they also followed in the footsteps of their companions and were smashed to pieces in the following minutes. "Count Spee described the first lightning strike of the Russians in his report after the war, and the actions of these Russian officers and men did not pose any real threat to the Chinese navy, except for their courage!

Under the desperate cover of the torpedo boat force, the remaining four Russian cruisers finally completed their tactical maneuver, and at this time the two Russian lead ships, the fast battleship Peter the Great and the Catherine, had begun to shoot at the Pinghai and Jinghai of the Huaxia Navy. The two seven-level fast battleships also completed the turn to attack the opposite Ninghai and Taipei. And after sending off a wave of torpedo boats. The 4 armored cruisers behind the Russian Navy have already pinched up with the 5 armored cruisers under Liu Guanxiong! Count Spee's Scharnhorst fought Rurik first, and the two PISA-type armored cruisers Tianjin and Dalian fought against the Varyag and the Dutch armored cruiser Rotterdam, respectively. And the two Garibaldi-class armored cruisers are working together against the Sealand!

When the two sides formed two parallel battle lines, Essen suddenly discovered a strange phenomenon, the two fleets were not completely parallel, the Russian fleet and the Huaxia fleet seemed to be divided into two parts, and the distance between the four fast battleships led by Peter the Great and the three Ninghai-class and Taipei was maintained 7 to 8 KM. The patrol behind the Chinese Navy suddenly approached to a distance of only about 5KM from the Russian patrol formation, and the fleets of the two sides were directly split into two pieces in battle! Judging from the current situation, the Huaxia Navy obviously wants to rely on the superior 5 armored cruisers to defeat the 4 armored cruisers behind it, and then draw out its forces to support the operation of the leading fleet!

In the eyes of Cheng Biguang and Liu Guanxiong, the outcome of this battle depends entirely on who can defeat the opponent's weak ship the fastest. If the Russians had destroyed the Taipei first, then the Armstrong, which had lined up behind, would have put the Huaxia fleet in danger by attacking either the Pinghai or the Scharnhorst. On the other hand, if the Scharnhorst destroys the Rurik first, then the Scharnhorst can also concentrate fire on the Varyag behind or the Armstrong in front, and the advantage of the Chinese Navy will be further expanded!

Therefore, in this case, Liu Guanxiong will be close to the Russian fleet, hoping to get results in a short time, and the proximity of the distance can allow the two Garibaldi-type armored cruisers to exert a large number of secondary guns as much as possible.

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